The company said it would determine the share units and pricing at a later stage, pending demand.

The Chinese-language United Evening News yesterday reported OSIM would issue up to 85 million TDRs at NT$20.8 a unit, raising NT$1.77 billion (US$61.4 million).

At a pre-TDR investor conference in Taipei yesterday, OSIM founder and CEO Ron Sim (沈財福) said the company has a long history in Taiwan and aims to tap the vibrant Taiwanese capital market.

OSIM was founded in Singapore in 1979 by Sim. It expanded into Hong Kong in 1986 and Taiwan in 1987 — its first two overseas markets.

The company has been working with Taiwan’s Pacific Sogo Department Stores Co (太平洋崇光百貨) to sell its wide array of massage products. It also established specialty stores across the country.

As of the end of March, the healthcare group had 595 OSIM points of sale, and 107 RichLife stores, its own-brand healthcare supplement retailers, across the globe.

The company is especially eyeing growth in China, where people are increasingly health-conscious and able to splurge, Sim said.

He said the company, which operates 269 OSIM outlets in China, would open 50 to 60 new outlets a year. It aims to also launch 100 RichLife outlets every 12 months in China.

“Looking forward this year, China will be the major driver of growth momentum for OSIM, thanks to its rising economy and spending power,” Fubon Research (富邦投顧) said in a research note on Friday last week.

The potential market for massage chairs in China is huge, with an anticipated compound annual growth rate in sales of 30 percent, the note said.

OSIM last month said its net profit had more than doubled to a record S$20.1 million (US$16.2 million) for the first quarter, compared with the S$8 million in the same three-month period a year ago. The performance was owing to a better product mix and increased sales in various markets, it said.